In a message dated 11/27/2007 3:16:00 PM Central Standard Time, NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU writes:
Still, the exact moment when Shade felt himself to be the shadow of the waxwing slain is unclear. Some possibilities: he is reacting to the death of his parents; he is reacting to Hazel's suicide; he is referring to a change that occured in him as a result of his childhood (or adult) fits.
I'd suggest that the time setting must be after the deaths of his parents, given that they were ornithologists. There's also a Nabokovian twist in "waxwing"; the very name contains a double--"double-you--double-you"-- which is reminiscent of Poe's most famous doppelganger story, "WilliamWilson."
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